Cost
by cricketchick1990
Summary: Up until the war, everyone had always taken Yuzu for granted. Himself included. Part of the Evolution series - but can be read alone.


_Well, this fic has taken me a while. But it's done! And I'll give you three guesses as to which fab author has been helping me with this the whole way through. First two don't count._

**_Go Feilyn!_**

_And guess what? It's another part of the Evolution series! But bear in mind, this can still be read alone!_

_This is new territory for me, completely different characters and genre to what I usually write...but it was fun. Draining, but fun._

_So without any further ado, I shall leave you to it!_

_Hope you enjoy!_

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Up until the war, everyone had always taken Yuzu for granted.

Himself included.

She was his friend, but he had never thanked her for taking him in after Urahara had gotten Ururu killed, feeding him, mending his clothes and making sure there was always a place for him to sleep each night, even though she had only been out of the hospital a week.

She never once asked him for something in return.

She'd been like that for as long as he could remember (which was all of the six years he had known her) but Karin and Ichigo had both told him as they sat next to her comatose form about how she had looked after them ever since she had been tall enough to see over the stove.

They had never thanked her either.

And sitting beside her only just breathing body in the middle of a human Intensive Care Unit, they had finally realised just how much they all owed to the youngest of the Kurosaki's.

It was so _stupid_, that they had only realised it _after _she had been almost ripped to shreds by a rogue Arrancar, having stood between it and what was left of Ururu's body as a favour to the younger girl who had protected her, somehow knowing instinctively where the beast was without being able to see it.

"_She died protecting me, so I protected her."_

Then again, they had never been particularly smart when it came to Yuzu at all.

She'd always been the quiet one in the family, working behind the scenes to keep them running as smoothly as possible. They'd never expected her to want to help in the war - Karin and Ichigo were the ones who always did the fighting and Isshin was too much of an idiot to really count - so when she turned up in the fake Karakura (out of her body and a soul chain dangling from her chest no less) with the equally unassuming Ururu at her side, Urahara made use of them.

Who would attack two young girls with no weapons? It gave them an advantage over the enemy and armed with her cannon, Ururu had led Yuzu into the fray. And they'd held their own. Ururu was stronger than she looked, and a large chunk of the lower level Hollow population was taken down by her alone. Yuzu spent most of her time administering aid to the wounded shinigami around them with a specialised kit that Urahara had provided them with for their own first aid, as Ururu protected her.

But their luck ran out.

Ururu, strong yet meek Ururu had been the last of the fighters to fall. Aizen had been defeated by Ichigo, and his forces were retreating to the safety of Hueco Mundo. And they had been safe, the Hollows had supposedly abandoned their area of fake Karakura, but no one was counting on the rogue Arrancar that resisted the advances of the Gotei 13.

It attacked Ururu from behind and made quick work of her, leaving her crumpled on the already bloodstained pavement within seconds. Yuzu had barely any time to react, but as the Arrancar moved in for the final strike, she somehow managed to get her body between it and Ururu, protecting her friend's body.

"_She died protecting me, so I protected her."_

Jinta had been the one to find them, Yuzu collapsed against the corpse of his almost-sister, her soul chain slowly being eaten away with every minute she was out of her body. The Arrancar was long gone, having sensed the presence of Kurosaki Ichigo somewhere in the northern area and deciding that his reiatsu was much more enticing than the dying girls, had gone after him instead.

There was no time to grieve, with the last of the twelfth division working to pull apart the fake Karakura and put the real one back in place (hopefully killing any remaining Hollows in the process), and he had to get Yuzu back into the real Karakura before that happened.

He would have had to leave Ururu behind, but the barely conscious Yuzu had told him that if he had, she wouldn't forgive him.

"_She deserves better."_

He somehow managed to find the strength to carry them both out of there - despite being a good forty centimetres shorter - and carried them both as far as he could towards the northern gate, where Ichigo found them. The look on the older man's face gave nothing away but as soon as he saw Yuzu, his reiatsu spiked so dangerously that one of the already crumbling northern barriers gave way and the fake world started collapsing around them.

If it weren't for Kotetsu Kiyone, then they all would have been taken along with it.

She'd been a part of the squad dispatched to do a final sweep of the area for any last fighters before the Twelth Division completely dismantled it. The third seat had thrown herself in front of the falling Northern Pillar, frantically chanting a kido barrier spell while struggling to stay conscious as her lower left leg was crushed under debris.

Of course, Kotsubari Sentaro was at her side in seconds and somehow managed to balance Kiyone on his shoulder, while also chanting barrier spells and leading them towards the gate, Yuzu cradled in Ichigo's arms, and Ururu in Jinta's as they ran as fast as they could.

Ukitake had almost dropped the spell holding the gate open for the last of the shinigami when he had seen the bloody mess that was the group (because Ichigo was too stubborn to let himself get healed before doing a patrol and they hadn't been able to do anything to help Kiyone or Yuzu without the danger of being lost in the crumbling world), and with the twelfth division only seconds behind, they had all tumbled into the Dagai.

He didn't remember much after that - Yoruichi mentioned something about shock - but then again, he didn't want to. He hadn't turned up to see Ururu's body be dumped in a cold and dark hole either, he hadn't wanted to, not with Urahara there. Instead, he'd gone to sit at Yuzu's bedside in the Karakura hospital and grieved for his almost-sister there, as his best friend breathed through a tube.

When Ichigo was finally released from the fourth division and Yamamoto had allowed him to return to Karakura, he joined Jinta in his silent vigil. Karin and Isshin eventually joined as well when the flow of patients into the Kurosaki Clinic slowed as injuries healed, and together they watched Yuzu slowly become more and more dependant on machinery.

No matter what the doctors of the hospital did to try and bring Yuzu out of her comatose state, it didn't work. In the end, it took the combined efforts of Kotetsu Isane and Hinamori Momo (because Orihime was still suffering from the temporary draining of her powers after Tousen had turned on her) to bolster Yuzu enough to warrant the removal of the machines and three weeks after the end of the war, she woke up.

And none of them were there to see it.

They had started taking turns at staying in her room, because Ichigo had to return to the university, Karin was close to dropping to the bottom of her class, and Isshin had the clinic to run so that the family could stay afloat. Jinta himself had been delivering flowers to Ururu's grave - the first time he had managed to bring himself to do so. It just so happened that when she woke up, was when they were all gone.

He remembered returning to the hospital hours after to find her locked in Ichigo's arms (who had broken every speed limit between the University and the hospital when he heard she was awake) and it was all he could do not to collapse in the doorway as he realised finally, that his friend was alive.

But he couldn't speak to her at first, couldn't forgive himself for letting her get into that situation in the first place. If he had known, maybe he could have stopped them, maybe…

_We chose to be there, Jinta-kun. _

He didn't believe her. Urahara had manipulated them, just like he had initially manipulated Kuchiki and Kurosaki. Two girls with no reason to be involved in a war didn't just decide to fight. They _didn't. _

Hell, a week after she had helped to defeat an arrancar before the war really even began, Ururu had still been quivering. She didn't _like _to fight.

She had just been bred for it.

He spent the next fortnight visiting Yuzu when she was asleep - he couldn't bring himself to speak to her without telling her abut what had really happened in the war. She'd lost a lot of memories of the war, seeming only to know that she had been in it - as if the trauma had caused it to be locked away in some portion of her mind. He didn't want her to know about her best friends death, and neither did anyone else. They didn't think she could cope with it.

They'd always underestimated her.

There were no tears. There were no hysterics. Just a cool acceptance that was so unlike Yuzu that he had to leave the room. Even Karin had seemed shocked, and she was Yuzu's _twin._

But this was Yuzu - who was far stronger than he could ever be, and who held far more compassion than he could ever cope with. Within a week she was released, slipping back into her normal role in the Kurosaki household so easily that it was like the war had never happened. Save for the inability to lift her left arm high enough to reach the topmost cupboards because of the half-missing muscle along her shoulder, she was back to normal.

Well, as normal as she could be. He hadn't seen her cry yet, and it was beginning to worry him. Yuzu always cried, sometimes over the simplest of things. For her not to be visibly grieving for Ururu was disturbing.

But then he noticed the effort she was putting into her therapy, the extra lengths she was going to, just to make sure that everyone was looked after. Everyone bar herself. She was using her normal role to distract her from her grief, and it was slowly beginning to eat away at her. She never even spoke to them anymore, just went about her duties to ensure they were okay, only acknowledging them with a strained smile and a small nod.

So he did the only thing he could think of.

He grabbed her by the arm, pulled her all the way to Ururu's gravesite, all the way across Karakura, up a ridiculously big hill and literally shook some sense into her.

_I've already lost Ururu…I don't want to lose you as well._

He wasn't quite prepared for the tackling hug, nor for the hard thud of the earth against his back. But with Yuzu crushing his ribcage and sobbing into his chest, he didn't really have much option but to stay there and awkwardly run a hand along her back in some hope that she would loosen her hold a bit, while also trying to comfort her.

Despite his incompetent comforting skills, she eventually stopped crying, though it took her a while to gather the strength to pull herself off of him. When she managed to, he followed just quickly enough to catch her before she fell, and half carried her home.

Ichigo met them at the door, famous Kurosaki scowl _and_ glare fixed firmly on Jinta as he carried Yuzu up the steps. There was no thank-you from the older man, no sign of any gratefulness at all when he took her in his arms, and he was about to close the door in Jinta's face when Yuzu opened her eyes and in the biggest voice she could muster, told him off for being rude.

The look on Kurosaki's face was priceless.

The look on _his_ face when she when she told Kurosaki to put her down and help her make dinner for him however, must have been even better.

Here she was, minutes after a complete breakdown - _cooking _for him_. _And after _that_ mending his clothes and offering to set up a room for him. He was pretty sure both him and Kurosaki had un-hinged jaws for the rest of the night.

How he had ever taken her for granted, he would never know.

But he was damn sure he never would let it happen again.

* * *

How was it? I hope you enjoyed it! A bit of background for you Evolution readers, and a new take on Jinta and Ururu and Yuzu for you others! Hope you have the time to review!


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